Trip to Sri Lanka

From February 15 to 26, Brigitte and I traveled to Sri Lanka and to India.

We arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday night late, February 15. Our friends Claude and Christiani Pereira met us at the airport and welcomed us warmly in their home. During the precious moments we spent with them, we rediscovered them after bring apart for many years. They lived in Hong Kong for 23 years, where Claude worked as a civil engineer for the Hong Kong government. Since they returned to Sri Lanka, they dedicated their lives to help the poor. Christiani grew up in a Christian family. Her mother was a woman of prayer who interceded for all her family. She influenced not only her own children but also her brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces who for most of them are committed Christians who make a difference everywhere they are. Claude and Christiani are involved with a Christian Charitable organisation called Community Concern Society. See a photo slideshow of our trip to Sri Lanka.

The next morning, after a good time of sharing and catching up, our friends drove us to the Dehiwala Outreach Center located to the south of Colombo. The center is near the beach slum where 5000 families live in terrible conditions (worsen by the Tsunami). We were privileged to meet many of the wonderful Christians who worked zealously to help the poor. (See below a short description of some of the projects led by CCS)

Brigitte and I have deeply been impressed by all the work and the love we have seen in action among the Christians working at the center. Even though much of the material and financial resources donated for the Tsunami victims came from overseas, the Sri Lankan Christians gave what was even more precious: their own life, their possession, their time and their love.

The second day, our friends drove us to Galle, (See map), a city in the south. The south and south east of the coast of Sri Lanka is where the Tsunami was the most destructive. When we visited the Island, it was already a month and a half after the disaster. Even then, the victims had not yet receive help from their our government to rehabilitate them. Many organisations (local and overseas like the Red Cross and World Vision and many others) donated tents and distributed basic commodities to help people survive. Even schools served as camps. But unfortunately, in many of these camps, people were robbed and women were sometimes in danger. We saw many people looking for where their home was and trying to rebuild a shelter with whatever they could find on the beaches.

I talked with a group of people who live in one of these camps. All of them said they had lost one of a few members of their family and their home. It was sad to hear. These people wish for a better life.

The disaster that stroke on December 26 shook the whole world. It reminds us how we are fragile. As Christians, It makes us question the meaning of our life, the character of God and our responsibility toward mankind. In Sri Lanka, the Christians saw death face to face. They heard the laments and have seen tears of despair. But they have not remained passive, nor insensitive. Many volunteers from "Youth For Christ" help cleaning beaches, buried bodies , cleaned schools, orphanages and hospitals. They help distributed water, food and other help relief material. They distributed more than thirty thousands school bags and kits, etc, and that is one example among many others.

We briefly met the director of Youth For Christ, Ajith Fernando who is the nephew of our friend Christiani. He is a world renown theologian and conference speaker. I heard him a few years ago in Hong Kong. You can read an expose that he wrote about how Christian should respond to national disaster like the Tsunami.

"This is a time for us to suffer for our people, to work hard, and to give up something

we are used to having so that those who have nothing will be helped."

Ajith Fernando, Director of Youth For Christ, Sri Lanka

After seeing so many overwhelming needs, the financial contribution that we brought along to help the victims seemed so small. We thank those of you who sent us your love gift for the Tsunami victims and have prayed for us and mainly for the victims and the wonderful Christians in Sri Lanka.

We thank the Lord for this experience in Sri Lanka. Our short stay has not allowed us to personally get involved in helping, but we could see the situation with our own eyes. We saw the lives and heard heard stories of Christians who were involved. We also heard many testimonies of how God intervened miraculously in certain instances. Our faith was greatly challenged and our heart deeply moved. See a photo slideshow of our trip to Sri Lanka.

Thank you for your prayers, love and support,

John 3:16

René & Brigitte Lussier

Appendix COMMUNITY CONCERN SOCIETY

Sriyani, a Sri Lankan, married to Tom Tidball, an American, begun this work 23 years ago.

(Photo of Sriyani on the right)

The Dehiwela Outreach Centre (DOC) is located in the same beach slum where CCS began in 1980. Over 5,000 families live in this slum. Children are victims of malnutrition, hunger, sickness, neglect, abuse, dysfunctional family life, prostitution and other forms of exploitation while adults suffer from domestic violence, poverty, lack of employment, under employment, inadequate housing, bad sanitation, and drug addiction.

 The following programmes are offered to meet the needs of people in the area:

Health Programme - which includes a doctor's clinic, daily wound dressing clinics, infant clinic, family follow-up programmes, mobile medical clinic, childcare/ nutrition and health education for mothers.

Feeding Programme - feeds 400 meals to needy children five days a week.

Sewing and handicraft classes for 80 girls and unemployed women. Tutoring classes for over 300 school-going children after school.

Women's Programme that works with approximately 400 women in the area in empowering them with life skills and micro-enterprise schemes.

New Programmes

The Frank Whilsmith Medical Centre was improved and reorganized in 2003 to help the sick and hurting who were in need of medical and emotional care. The Clinic offers care and solutions to the sick and needy. There are regular outreach programs that take good health practices out into the slums offering solutions to physical, mental and emotional problems of those living in the slums. One of these programs is called the Prema Project.

The Prema Project is a mobile medical clinic that runs once a week in the beach area. We have divided the beach into four areas and make weekly visits. We take medical supplies with us. We cut hair, dress wounds, and give simple treatment for fever and pains. When we find needy children, we place them in our other projects. Every week we serve over 100 children and adults.

 The programmes that are run at the Clinic are:

Weekly Prema Mobile Health Clinic

Sharety Baby Clinic for 50 poor and malnourished babies Two clinics a week run by volunteer British doctors

Daily Wound Clinics and medical help for those who visit the Clinic Prevention and awareness programmes in child abuse and child rights issues

Prevention and awareness programmes in areas like STDs, AIDS, Drug abuse ... etc Educational Programmes

Counseling for abused women and children

Documenting health progress of children receiving care from CCS programmes Help Desk set up for abused women

CCS has a Tsunami Rehabilitation/Reconstruction Project. They have surveyed the three communities where they are involved and recognized 1541 families who need a house. Special prayers are requested for this project. The government has pledged to donate lands. Funds have been pledged from Holland and Canada, but politics has slowed down the progress. (Meanwhile, the victims are those who suffer the most.)